This season’s Champions League has had all the thrills, spills and frills we could possibly ask for.
And it’s due to get even better this week. Juventus are aiming to upset the odds against a fancied Real Madrid side, while Pep Guardiola returns to Barcelona hoping Munich can topple his old side.
Here’s how we think it will go.
Juventus v Real Madrid
Tonight, 19:45
The wondrous Andrea Pirlo goes up against his old boss, Carlo Ancelotti. The pair won almost every trophy it is possible to win during a fantastic eight year spell at AC Milan.
However, there will be no love lost when the 35 year-old midfield maestro takes to the field tonight. Pirlo’s been in outstanding form this season and has demonstrated on numerous occasions that he still has the skill to play at this level.
He’ll have to be at his best if the Old Lady are to defeat a Madrid side boosted by the return of Gareth Bale. The Welsh winger returned for Madrid’s victory over Sevilla.
It’s not all good news for Los Blancos. They will be without star striker Karim Benzema for tonight’s game. He has failed to recover from a niggling knee injury.
Juventus go into tonight’s game as semi-final underdogs so it’s crucial they get a positive result at home. They can take confidence from Real’s poor record in Italy.
They haven’t won in their last seven visits. That, coupled with Juventus’ record of being unbeaten in their last 12 European home games, bodes well for the Italian side.
We fancy Juventus to grind out a 1-0 victory here.
Barcelona v Bayern Munich
Tomorrow, 19:45
Pep Guardiola won 14 trophies while in charge of Barcelona. He returns to the Nou Camp with the aim of stopping Barca winning yet another.
His Bayern side have been victims to a glut of injuries, so Pep will have to be at his best to outsmart current Barcelona coach Luis Enrique.
Bayern will definitely be without Arjen Robben, David Alaba and Holger Badstuber, while Franck Ribery and Robert Lewandowski are also injury doubts.
Barcelona on the other hand, have a clean bill of health. They cruised to a 8-0 demolition of Córdoba at the weekend and enter Wednesday’s tie full of confidence.
If Bayern recreate their quarter-final second-leg performance against Porto, they will be difficult to stop. But we fancy an all-conquering Barcelona to get revenge for 2013’s semi-final loss with a 3-1 win.
